Does Spousal Support Stop If My Ex Remarries?

Divorce doesn't deport the stigma it once did, and second (and even third or fourth) marriages are not all that uncommon today.

While many exes are happy to see their sometime partner brainstorm a new romantic run a risk, they may also be wondering if a second marriage could help them. More specifically, as a support-paying divorced person, does the obligation to pay support come to an stop if the ex decides to remarry?

The answer – as with many legal questions around the topic of family law – is that "information technology depends".  One matter is for certain: Your ex's remarriage never automatically brings an stop to your support obligations.  Only exactly how it may touch on them will usually swivel on why you accept been ordered to pay spousal back up to your ex in the first place.

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How is spousal back up calculated?

Before diving into the legal mechanics of the fuller respond, it is of import to have an agreement of how your support-paying obligations to your ex are initially determined and calculated, in one case you decide to separate and divorce.

Spousal support is a concept arising primarily under federal divorce legislation, but also under provincial law, depending on your circumstances. Either way, the essential concepts and financial elements remain the same. Spousal back up simply represents money paid from ane of you to the other once you lot separate or divorce, under either a court order or your own agreement.

Bold yous are the spouse required to pay, the spousal support you remit to your ex is designed to accost three main objectives:

  • To recognize the economic advantages and disadvantages to each of y'all that arises from your marriage and its breakdown;
  • To relieve any economic hardship that arises because of your union breakup; and
  • To promote the idea that each of y'all must exist every bit self-sufficient as possible, now that the marriage has ended.

When making an order requiring y'all to pay spousal support to your ex, a court takes these objectives into account, equally well as your corresponding contributions during the human relationship. It then crafts a spousal support order that information technology feels will best meet these goals. When setting the specific amount and duration of support that you should pay, the courtroom looks at a combination of well-established legal factors that fall into two conceptual categories.

The first is referred to as a "needs and means" analysis, and requires a courtroom to consider:

  • Your ex's actual need for support, arising from his or her economical disadvantage resulting from your relationship; and
  •  Your own ability to pay your ex that required support.

The second type of analysis focuses on compensating your ex for whatsoever lost career opportunities or other disadvantage he or she may take suffered as a result of your relationship and its subsequent breakup. For instance, this part of the court'due south scrutiny may look at whether your ex was disadvantaged during the relationship because he or she left a career path to have on the bulk of the kid-rearing duties. If the court finds this was the case, information technology may calculate and structure the spousal support order to take your ex's resulting economic disadvantage into account.

Needless to say, with all of these considerations and goals, the calculation of a spousal support entitlement is highly-complex. But at its simplest – if you are the higher-earning spouse and so there is a chance yous will exist required to pay spousal support to your ex upon separation and divorce, especially if at that place is a large deviation in your income levels.

How does my ex'due south remarriage bear on my obligations?

If y'all accept been ordered by a courtroom to pay your ex spousal support, then his or her second marriage to another partner tin can often – but non ever – have an impact on your financial obligations.

Instead, the upshot is decided case-by-case, and depends on numerous factors that a court volition examine.  Predominantly, information technology will hinge on what the legal conceptual footing for your ex's receipt of support was when the original club was made.

If your duty to pay back up to your ex was predicated on addressing his or her land of need due to the marriage and its breakdown (rather than to compensate for economic disadvantage), and then your ex'south decision to re-marry may trigger a reduction in the amount that you are required to pay.  This is considering – depending on the standard of living in your ex's new household – his or her remarriage may have diminished or eliminated that state of demand, in which case a courtroom may exist prompted to adjust the level of your own support obligations accordingly.

On the other hand, if the original order to pay your ex spousal back up was based largely on compensatory factors, then the court volition so examine the electric current-day factors (including your ex'south new standard of living) only will remain mindful of the more historic bear on of your marriage and divorce, including the length of time you and your ex were married, his or her current age, broader self-sufficiency prospects, and and so on.

Again, there are no hard-and-fast rules, nor a reliable formula to apply to your facts.

The materials contained in this website are intended to provide general information and annotate only and should non be relied or construed as legal advice or opinion. While nosotros endeavor to keep the data on this spider web site equally up to date, accurate and consummate as reasonably possible, we do not warrant the completeness, timeliness or accuracy of anything contained in this spider web site. The application and impact of laws can vary widely, based on the specific facts involved. For any particular fact situation, we urge you to consult an experienced lawyer with whatever specific legal questions you may have. Your apply of this website doe non institute or create a lawyer-client human relationship. Should you lot wish to retain our house, kindly contact our office to gear up a meeting with a lawyer.

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